Cadalyst - November 2007 - (Page 34)

cadlabsreview Newforma Project Center Fourth Edition Software makes productivity a breeze. By Jerry Laiserin W hen computing pioneer J.C.R. Licklider first juxtaposed the words personal and computing in 1962, what he had in mind was a human–machine symbiosis in which computers would take on the repetitive drudge work of information management and liberate people to do the creative, judgment-based sorts of things that computers can’t. Today, after half a century of digital revolution, we humans often find ourselves burdened by the very PCs that were supposed to liberate us. Particularly in project-centric industries such as AEC, we — not our computers — labor at such soulless tasks as moving and copying digital files in myriad formats across imaginary trees of invisible folders governed by arcane protocols. However, we can recapture much of the original vision that involves using PC software to make our lives easier with Newforma Project Center. Newforma’s founders are AEC technology veterans whose careers include stints on both the practice side and the software-business side. The team’s breadth and depth of experience is reflected in the product and in the way it came to exist. Newforma applies a radical but all-too-rare approach to developing its Newforma Project Center software. Everyone in the company believes that the way a piece of software works should match users’ behaviors, not force users to change their behaviors to conform to the software. Most end users and practice managers in AEC have come to dread new software; they fear taking two steps forward and one step back. When Newforma Project Center is added to an AEC firm’s workflow, however, the experience is more like the same, only better. Not Just the Same Old, Same Old The path to AEC software nirvana is strewn with technologic road kill — everything from document-management systems to knowledge management, intranets, extranets, and myriad forms of electronic collaboration. Each enjoyed its moment in the sun, and some still are used effectively, but most have not survived their initial buzz of enthusiasm. Why and how is Newforma Project Center different? Unlike document-management systems, knowledge management, and most intranets, Newforma Project Center relies on a bottom-up (rather than top-down) approach to managing information. What I mean by this is that it does not impose a preordained way of organizing information — a taxonomy, to use a fancy word. Instead, Newforma Project Center provides a painless and seamless way to find and retrieve any and all information that bubbles up in any design firm during the ordinary course of practice. No special dialog boxes interrupt the normal flow of opening and saving everyday files. No one has to use arbitrary and hard-to-remember file-classification schemata; they just use the same files in the same places they’ve always been. No tricky and annoying metadata need be applied if one hopes ever to see a particular bit of information again. In a similar way, Newforma Project Center relies on an inside-out rather than outside-in approach to sharing information within a project team. Most so-called extranets, project-specific Web site services, and similar projectcollaboration networks shift the management of shared information outside any individual firm. Those services centralize a document repository, messaging clearinghouse, and transactional database. This approach would be ideal if only one such system existed or if firms only worked on one project at a time. However, hundreds of these services operated prior to the dot-com implosion in mid-2000, and dozens of contenders — from online plan rooms to full-blown electronic collaboration systems — are still out there. This diversity means that project managers dealing Newforma Project Center Fourth Edition A+ Project Information Management Software Pros: The Swiss Army knife of AEC productivity. Cons: None significant. Price: $395 per-user, per-year subscription; volume discounts available. Newforma 603.625.6212 www.newforma.com This version: . . . . . . . . . . A+ Ease of use: . . . . . . . . . . . A+ Feature: . . . . . . . . . . . . . A Installation: . . . . . . . . . . . A+ Customization: . . . . . . . . A+ Interoperability: . . . . . . . A Third-party add-ons:. . . . A Help: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A Innovation: . . . . . . . . . . . A+ Value: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A+ 34 November 2007 | cadalyst | www.cadalyst.com http://www.newforma.com http://www.cadalyst.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Cadalyst - November 2007

Cadalyst - November 2007 Contents Editor's window Cad Central Conceptual Inspiration for Less Than $200 From Any Angle - Publish and Share Your 3D Designs NX 5, Part 1 - CAD/CAM/CAE Software Newforma Project Center Fourth Edition - Software for Project Information Management CAD Manager's Survey 2007 Sharing and Collaborating with Your Team To BIMfinity and Beyond! Solutions for Sending Large Digital Files Cad Cartoon Issue Indexes Cad Fidential

Cadalyst - November 2007

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